A 25 year old man has been convicted of fraud after attempting to evade a paternity test
Thomas Kenny already had two children with his existing partner when he began an affair with a second woman, the Metro reports. She fell pregnant but refused to undergo an abortion despite pressure to do so.
Kenny, from Solihull, then denied paternity. When the Child Maintenance Service insisted that he undergo a DNA test, he sent along a look-alike to provide false data.
The West Midlands man admitted conspiracy to defraud and at a hearing in Birmingham Crown Court this week, was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 12 months. Kenny was also ordered to pay £885 compensation and £500 in costs.
Kenny’s counsel argued that:
“He is obviously a young man who has made a big mistake in response to personal circumstances and the threat of losing contact with his two sons from his first relationship.”
Mr Kenny had been under a lot of pressure, she insisted.
But Judge Barker QC was unimpressed and condemned the attempted deception, telling the 25 year-old:
“I know you are said to be the loving father of two children by your longstanding relationship, but this case shows you were prepared to disown a child for your own for financial gain. Morally, you cannot sink lower than that.”
Quite right. I think, if I am honest, that Mr Kenny got off easily. In my view he should have been given an actual rather than suspended sentence. It was thoroughly reprehensible behaviour, one that sets a terrible example, and I am not in the least surprised to read the mother of his third child no longer wants anything to do with him.
Image of Shirley Park in Solihull by Darius Khan via Wikipedia